The Curse A3 COMPLETE
by FullMoonDreams
Summary: Tru is stuck on a plane on a rewind day where the victim has died from unknown causes. Harrison helps but another body arrives instead. Can Tru figure out what has gone wrong as the day rewinds again?
1. A Wake Up Call

_Disclaimer – I do not have the copyright for the characters etc. Just borrowing them for a while._ _The story is set after the conclusion of season one of the show._

_It was also written BEFORE the episodes of season two were aired so there may well be inconsistencies between this story and the actual season two._

_It is an entirely separate story to The Deception. However it will have Cassie from that story in it. If you have not read The Deception and would like to read this one the only thing you need to be aware of is that Cassie was introduced in that story. She is a waitress at a diner frequented by Harrison and is starting out her own interior design business. She is also Harrison's new girlfriend._

_I love hearing from people who read any of my stories so be sure to leave a review if you do read this. Incidentally I have set up a Tru Calling C2 if you want to check it out in my user profile. If you like Harrison focused fics I hope you will consider subscribing._

_Thanks and enjoy!_

**The Curse**

**A Wake-up Call**

The sound of the phone ringing woke Harrison, who groaned and pulled the pillow over his head. It was still dark out. No one in their right mind would be phoning him at this time in the morning. If he ignored it perhaps they would go away.

The ringing persisted.

Harrison swore as he reached for the receiver. "This'd better be a life and death emergency," he muttered as he answered the call.

"Harrison?" Tru's voice came down the poorly connected line.

"He's not here," Harrison muttered.

"Harrison, I need a favour," Tru continued, ignoring his comment as only an older sister could.

"It's four in the morning," Harrison complained. "What sort of favour requires such an early start?"

"Sorry, I wasn't sure of the time," Tru sounded apologetic. "I'm in the air at the moment."

"You're calling from a plane?" Harrison asked, slightly more awake now, and wondering what sort of disaster he was about to be dragged into.

"Harrison, it's a rewind day. I can't get through to Davis and there's no answer at the morgue," Tru sounded frantic now as the line started to break up.

"You started your rewind day on the plane?" Harrison asked. "How did that happen?"

"You know I go back to the last time I woke up, well the last time I woke up was on the flight back from Europe."

"Let me guess," Harrison sighed. "You came back here, got off the plane, went straight to work and right into a rewind day?"

"You got it," Tru confirmed. "But I'm stuck on the plane at the moment and I won't be able to make it to the victim in time. I went to the morgue right from the airport and she was being brought in then. So I need you and Davis to take over until I get there."

"Can't you just ask them to make the plane go faster?" Harrison asked as he fell back onto his bed.

"Don't be an idiot," Tru snapped. "Have you got a pen handy?"

"No," Harrison replied. "What would I be doing with a pen at four in the morning?"

"Well get one," Tru ordered. "And hurry up, the lines getting worse."

Harrison switched on the light at the side of the bed and blinked at the sudden glare. Pulling out the drawer he rummaged through the rubbish that it seemed to be full of until he found a scrap of paper and a chewed pen.

"Okay," Harrison prompted as he picked up the phone again.

"Her name's Veronica Carter, she's an antiques dealer over on Third. We've no idea of cause of death. Davis had already examined her when I got there and couldn't determine the cause. She's in her early forties but with her pure white hair she looks older. You should be able to find her easily. I need you to keep an eye on her today. You writing all this down?"

"Sure," Harrison muttered as he scribbled down the address that Tru quickly relayed to him before the line went dead.

He looked at the receiver in his hand and scowled. He wished he had a home number for Davis so that he could phone him and get him out of bed too. Putting down the phone he switched off the light and tried to get a few more hours sleep.

Half an hour later he sat up and switched on the light again. It was no use. He was well and truly awake now thanks to his sister and her dubious gift. He might as well get up.

An hour later Harrison was wandering around the city streets, surprised by the amount of activity around him. It was rare he was awake at five thirty in the morning and rarer still that he would be out and about.

He finally came to a halt outside of a familiar apartment building. He wondered if Cassie would be up yet. They had been dating for nearly three months now, at least if you counted the period of time where they had been pretending to date to convince Tru and his ex that he was getting on with his life. In actual fact they had only really been dating for a few weeks. He wondered if she would mind his arriving on her doorstep so early. Would she be annoyed? She worked in a diner, he reasoned. She had to start early in the morning. She'd probably be up already and getting ready for work. What time did people get up when they had jobs?

His mind made up, he walked into the building and made his way up the stairs to Cassie's apartment.

He pounded on the door and waited for her to come and let him in. The door opened a crack and he saw Cassie peer out at him. She looked half asleep. Maybe he'd misjudged what time people got up for work. She shut the door to and unhooked the chain before opening the door wide to let him in.

"Do you have any idea what time it is?" Cassie asked, covering her mouth as she yawned.

"Early," Harrison said. "Did I get you up?"

Cassie raised an eyebrow at the ridiculous question. She was standing in her robe, her dark hair was still mussed up and she had no makeup on. Frowning at him she walked over to the sofa and curled up in the corner.

"I was in the area," Harrison explained as he took a seat next to her. "I thought I'd stop by and check on you."

"Checking I don't have a date over?" Cassie asked with a sleepy grin.

"No," Harrison said with a glance towards the bedroom. "You don't do you?"

"Only the unexpected one sitting next to me," Cassie replied with a smile.

Harrison grinned and pulled her towards him. "Well that's okay then," he said as he drew her closer and nibbled on her lower lip.

"So what are you really doing here?" Cassie asked when they pulled apart a few minutes later. "You don't have a job do you?"

"No," Harrison exclaimed in horror. "I thought it might be romantic to go watch the sunrise."

"Try again Harrison," Cassie laughed. "You don't _actually_ expect me to believe that, even this early in the morning, do you?"

"Worth a try," Harrison replied. "No, I just had an early morning phone call and couldn't get back to sleep."

"Charming," Cassie rolled her eyes as she stood up. "You get dragged out of bed at the crack of dawn and decide to pull the same stunt on me. Coffee?"

"Sure," Harrison replied.

"So who was the call from?" Cassie asked a few minutes later as she brought two mugs of hot coffee over to where Harrison waited on the sofa.

"Tru," Harrison said as he took one of the mugs from Cassie.

"I thought she was in Europe?" Cassie queried. Harrison noticed that she was still being very careful about not speaking Lindsay's name. They both knew that Tru was visiting Lindsay and her new husband but neither actually wanted to bring his ex up in a conversation.

"She's on her way back, she called from the plane."

"Is something wrong?" Cassie asked as she sat back down.

"She just needs me to keep an eye on someone today," Harrison told her, whilst silently wondering how to explain about his sister's unique ability. They had touched on it once before when Cassie's life had been the one Tru had to save, but Cassie had not believed she was in danger until it was upon her. She had thrown Tru and himself out of her apartment and it was only afterwards she had said she believed that Tru had known beforehand that something was going to happen. Harrison had never got round to explaining exactly how it was that Tru knew what she did. He took a sip of coffee in an attempt to stall for time.

"This wouldn't be something similar to when Tru knew I was in danger, would it?" Cassie asked.

Harrison nodded in reply. Perhaps it would be better if he didn't explain everything. It was his sister's secret to tell and there wasn't really any reason to tell Cassie. The last thing he wanted was for her to throw him out of her apartment for a second time.

"She's an antiques dealer," Harrison explained. "Tru wants me to keep an eye on her until she gets back."

"Sounds simple enough," Cassie commented.

"You want to help when you get off work?" Harrison asked hesitantly. He wasn't sure whether Tru would approve of him dragging Cassie into her rewind problems. But he knew himself well enough to know that he was easily bored and distracted. At least with Cassie hanging out with him for part of the day he might stand a chance of not messing things up.

"I'm not at the diner today," Cassie replied.

"You have the day off?" Harrison asked with a frown. "And you didn't call me to make plans?"

"I already have plans actually," Cassie smiled. "I'm finally getting some interest in my interior design business. I was going to head to an auction or two and check out the stocks."

"That's great," Harrison replied with a wide grin. "You can come with me and talk to the woman about furniture and stuff. She works in antiques, she'll know everyone, she can introduce you around."

"If I didn't know how disorganised you are, I'd swear you had this planned," Cassie stood up with a smile and a shake of her head.


	2. The Search

_**The Search**_

Harrison looked in through the window of the store. There was no sign of a white haired woman. There was no sign of anyone except a young man sitting behind the counter reading the paper.

"Do you see her?" Cassie asked distractedly as she looked over the displays of china in the window.

"No," Harrison replied. "I guess we'll have to go in and ask."

He pushed open the door which hit the small old fashioned bell above the entrance. The clerk at the counter looked up for a moment before returning to his paper.

"Hi," Cassie said in a cheery voice as she approached the young man. "I was wondering if you could tell me whether Veronica is going to be in today?"

"Don't know," replied the young man with a shrug before turning back to his paper again. "She's out."

"Do you know where she is?" Harrison asked. The clerk shrugged again.

"Any idea at all?" Cassie asked. "We really have to see her today."

"She's at some auction," the clerk said impatiently. "Are you going to be buying anything?"

"No," Harrison replied looking around the contents of the store. The old and musty furniture was not something he would ever buy. Even if he could afford the ridiculously high prices.

"Actually," Cassie answered, giving Harrison a nudge to keep quiet, "I'm looking for contacts for my interior design business. You have some beautiful items here and I'm sure my client's will appreciate them as much as I do."

Harrison looked at Cassie in admiration. He'd known she was a good liar, it was one of the reasons they had managed to fool Tru for so long. But she had the clerk wrapped around her little finger with just a few words. He put down his paper and practically jumped up from his seat to offer his assistance. Moving around the counter he steered Cassie to the other side of the store. Harrison followed behind them, glancing at the ever-increasing price tags. By the time they had reached the clerk's destination the items were not even marked.

Picking up a book of their extensive inventory the clerk, who introduced himself as Tom, thrust it into Cassie's hands and proceeded to elaborate on how much he hoped to be able to help them.

Harrison looked at the youth more closely. He wondered if he was new to the job. He hadn't even asked the name of Cassie's company. Did her company have a name yet? He frowned as he tried to recall if she had mentioned one or not.

Seeing that Tom was getting very enthusiastic and they were no nearer to finding out where Veronica was Harrison decided it was time to step in.

"We really do need to speak with Veronica today," he interrupted as Tom flicked between dining room tables and clocks. With all the wonderful items in the brochure he wondered why the store had such a poor selection of items on display.

"Do you know which auction she's at?" Cassie asked with a dazzling smile at Tom.

"I might be able to find out," he offered with an equally sickening smile. "I'll be back in a minute. Just wait here."

"Thanks," Cassie simpered with another sweet smile as Tom hurried through the door into the back of the shop.

"You do know he's flirting with you?" Harrison hissed in Cassie's ear as soon as Tom was out of sight.

"Yes, I had noticed," Cassie answered. "It's not like you were getting anywhere with your questions. At least now he's helping."

"Only because he thinks he's getting somewhere with you," Harrison pointed out.

"Let him think what he wants, so long as he tells us where to find this mysterious Veronica of yours," Cassie answered with a shrug. Harrison frowned, far from happy at how Cassie was getting the information they needed. He didn't know where the jealous streak had come from but the green-eyed monster seemed to be alive and kicking.

"Here we are," Tom exclaimed with enthusiasm as he burst back through the door, waving a leaflet in front of him. "It's not far from here. Just fifteen minutes away. I'm sure you'll find her there."

"Thanks," Cassie replied as she took the flyer from him.

"Do come back soon," Tom said with a smile as they left the store.

Cassie nodded and smiled as she stepped out of the door onto the street outside. Harrison followed close behind her and put a possessive arm around her shoulders. Shooting a final glare at the disappointed looking Tom he hurried Cassie down the street to the address of the auction.

"Since when did you get jealous?" Cassie asked with a grin as she shook off Harrison's arm and hooked her own through it.

"Since you started flirting with other men right in front of me," Harrison grumbled.

"He was just a kid," Cassie pointed out with a laugh. "Let's find Veronica and you can flirt with her."

"Very funny," Harrison replied as they walked into the auction house.

The place was packed with buyers and sellers and Harrison wondered how they would ever find Tru's victim.

"What did you say she looked like?" Cassie asked as she scanned the crowd.

"Middle-aged with pure white hair," Harrison answered. "Not much to go on. Let's ask the staff if they know her."

Cassie nodded as they walked over to the reception desk. The smartly dressed man at the desk looked Harrison over quickly before turning an appreciative gaze in Cassie's direction. Harrison frowned again. This man was no eager to please kid. His neat and professionally cut hair made Harrison's unruly hair look nothing more than a mess. Why hadn't he noticed before that men had a habit of fawning over Cassie?

He caught Cassie's eye and tried to silently convey the message to her that he didn't want her flirting with this man no matter how much they needed his help. Cassie gave him a quick smile that was not entirely pleasant before turning back to the man at the desk.

"We're looking for Veronica Carter," she asked politely with a cool smile. "Would you know if she's here yet?"

"I believe so," the man replied. "You're both looking for her?" Harrison watched him tear his gaze away from Cassie to flicker over him before quickly turning back to his dark-haired tormentor.

"Yes," Cassie replied with a sugary smile. "She helping us decorate our new home. We've just got back from our honeymoon, right Harry?"

Harrison stood in silent horror as a queasy feeling came over him. The thought of marriage to anyone had never crossed his mind and for Cassie to suddenly introduce him as her husband was a shock he just wasn't ready for. He really should have set out some ground rules for what their story was going to be whilst tracking down Veronica. He plastered a smile on his face which he hoped she realised was as fake as her own. He barely registered what the man at the desk was saying to them.

"…through the double doors, then the fourth room on the right," the man on the reception directed them.

Cassie smiled her thanks and grabbed hold of the stunned Harrison's arm and steered him through the doors.

"What did you tell him that for?" Harrison hissed as they walked down the corridor.

"You didn't want me flirting with him and that was the quickest way to stop him from getting the wrong idea," Cassie replied.

"The wrong idea?" Harrison croaked. "You just…"

"Good grief Harrison," Cassie muttered. "It's not like we're actually married. It was just a little white lie. Has anyone ever told you there's no pleasing you?"

"Tru might have mentioned it on occasion," Harrison admitted. Now that the shock had worn off a little, and now that he realised Cassie had no more interest in walking down the aisle than he did, he was starting to breathe a little easier. He mentally counted the doors they had passed and realised they were at the fourth door already.

He stopped walking and pulled Cassie to the side before they went into the room. "Maybe you should let me do the talking," he suggested, dreading what she would come out with this time.

"Okay," Cassie replied with a smile. "I'll just wander round and take a look at the stock. I hadn't planned on coming to this particular auction house today but since I'm here, I might as well make the most of it."

"Okay," Harrison agreed. "I'll find Veronica and we'll meet back here in an hour."

"Sure," Cassie replied, her eyes already wandering over the displays of items for sale later that day.

Harrison watched Cassie disappear into the crowd and then searched the room for Veronica Carter. There were several white haired women in the room and Harrison approached them one by one without success. Realising that he was getting nowhere he then turned to ask one of the staff members standing by a display of plates ready to answer questions.

"Mrs Carter?" the man replied, scanning the room. "She's over there in the pottery section," he nodded in the general direction.

Harrison thanked the man and quickly made his way across the room to where the displays of vases and bowls were. He looked over the people looking at the displays but there was no sign of a white-haired woman at all. He spotted Cassie looking at a particularly ugly vase and gave her a quick shake of his head at her silent question. Turning again to a member of staff he had no sooner asked his question when a voice from directly behind him announced that she was Mrs Carter.

Harrison turned round to see who the owner of the voice was. Tall and stately, Mrs Carter was indeed in her forties but instead of pure white hair, she was a stunning redhead.

"You're Mrs Veronica Carter?" Harrison asked in confusion.

"Yes, I'm Veronica. You're looking for me?" Mrs Carter replied.

"The Veronica Carter of the antiques store over on Third?"

"Yes," she confirmed again, her face starting to look as confused as his own.

"Sorry," Harrison finally managed with an apologetic smile. "You just don't match the description I was given."

"Can I help you?" Veronica asked.

Harrison stood in silence as he realised that he had not thought of a cover story to tell the victim when he found her. He knew from his past experience with Cassie that telling the truth was out of the question. He wondered what Tru would have said to her, or whether she would simply have stood by and watched from a distance to make sure the woman was safe. Too late he realised that that option was already lost to him. He looked to where he had last seen Cassie to see if she would be coming to the rescue with another story but she had gone from the pottery display and was nowhere in sight.

"Are you alright?" Veronica asked with concern as she followed his gaze to the display.

Thinking quickly, Harrison gave Veronica a bright smile before using his own gift of the gab to explain why he was looking for her. Picking up on Cassie's cover story at the front desk he embellished it and explained that he was looking for his wife who was dying to meet her. Within a few minutes Veronica was looking around the room for Cassie eager to help the young couple find the perfect items for their new home. Harrison wondered briefly why he had not given her Cassie's original story about her interior design business, but decided not to dwell on that too much.

They eventually found Cassie in one of the neighbouring rooms where the auction itself was underway. She was bidding on one of the items when Harrison finally spotted her. He was just about to wave her over when his cell phone rang out loudly in the hushed room.

"Harrison?" the voice asked. "It's Davis, where are you?"


	3. The Victim

_**The Victim**_

"At an auction," Harrison replied as he cast an apologetic glance at Veronica before ducking out of the room into the corridor.

"Tru got hold of you then?" Davis asked, with a sound of relief.

"Yeah," Harrison answered. "She said she couldn't get hold of you and called me instead. The connection was lost before she could give me your number though."

"I wouldn't have got the call anyway," Davis assured him. "I was woken up just before four this morning from a nurse, or at least someone who claimed to be a nurse, letting me know my cousin was in hospital. I rushed out and forgot my cell phone. Then got all the way to the hospital only to find it was a wild goose chase. I just got back and heard Tru's message on my machine."

"It took you that long to get to the hospital?" Harrison asked before realising that Davis was obviously not talking about the hospital near to the morgue at which he and Tru worked.

"It was out of town," Davis confirmed. "I think Jack had a hand in this."

"You do?" Harrison replied. He had not seen much of Jack recently but assumed that was because Tru was out of town. It stood to reason that he would not have much reason to be hanging around whilst she was away. It had even crossed his mind that he might have followed Tru out of town.

"Who else would pull a stunt like that?" Davis asked. "He's been keeping a close eye on Tru for weeks now. He'll know she is stuck on the plane and that the day has rewound. He knows she'll have been trying to contact me and decided to get me out of the way before she could manage it."

"I wonder why he didn't get someone to call me," Harrison wondered aloud.

"He probably tried," Davis pointed out. "But Tru got to you first."

"So do you want to come and take over here?" Harrison asked, half hoping that Davis would say yes and free him and Cassie to hang out for the day, and half hoping that he would say no. He didn't know why he wanted to carry on with the job of keeping Veronica Carter safe. Maybe it was because when he was helping Tru out with her rescues it felt like he had some sort of purpose and he didn't feel quite so much of a failure. Not that he dwelled too much on the dismal failures in his life. Life was far too short to be morbid and there was too much fun to be had. But there were a few occasions, seemingly more and more frequently, when he did stop to wonder what he was doing with his life.

"Can you carry on for a while?" Davis asked. "I'm going to go into the office and see if I can find out some more information on the cause of death."

"Okay, sure," Harrison replied. "I'll swing by later."

"Okay," Davis agreed. "Just one other thing. The time of death Tru gave me was mid afternoon."

"So I'll keep her safe until then," Harrison said with a determined nod that was, of course, completely lost of Davis on the other end of the phone.

Pocketing the cell phone, Harrison walked back into the auction room to see that Cassie and Veronica had found each other without his help and were chatting like old friends.

"Over here, honey," Cassie called out as Harrison cringed at the endearment. He forced a smile onto his face as Veronica turned around.

"Your wife has just been telling me all about the honeymoon," Veronica said with a smile.

Harrison groaned inwardly, dreading to think what Cassie had come out with in the short period of time he had been on the phone to Davis.

"You haven't been spending all our money?" he finally asked in an effort to steer the subject away from whatever lies Cassie had been spinning in his absence.

"Just a vase," Cassie replied. "It was a real bargain though."

"Not that ugly thing you were looking at earlier?" he asked. He knew that Cassie generally had good taste in furnishings but the vase she had been holding earlier had been truly hideous. He waited for her to tell him it was a gift for him, the final stab of revenge for his early morning pounding on her door.

"That's the one," Cassie smiled. "It's just perfect for us."

Veronica laughed and stepped away to make a bid on an item she wanted, leaving the "newly weds" to sort out their differences in taste.

"You didn't really buy that thing did you?" Harrison asked.

"It's for a client," Cassie explained. "I have one who is looking for particular pieces and that is just perfect. I phoned him and put in the bid on his behalf. It'll be delivered directly to him. You'll never have to lay eyes on it again."

"Good," Harrison breathed a sigh of relief. "So what else have you been telling Veronica?"

"Nothing much," Cassie smirked before hooking her arm through his and steering him towards some seats at the side of the room.

Sitting down they could keep Veronica in clear sight, without getting in the way of the rest of the people in the now crowded room.

Compared to every other time that Harrison had helped Tru out, he was finding this occasion to be far easier than any before. There was no one trying to kill him and Cassie bought them both lunch without his even having to hint. Veronica and Cassie were getting on like a house on fire and Harrison didn't even have to try and make conversation with the middle-aged woman who it was clear he had nothing in common with at all.

Mid-afternoon came and went and Harrison decided to make a move to go to the morgue and meet Davis and Tru, who should now be back in the country. Giving Cassie a quick kiss goodbye he promised to be "home" in time for dinner, and left her and Veronica discussing various types of wall coverings.

The morgue was empty of bodies when Harrison arrived. He was relieved to find both Tru and Davis in the office and no sign of Jack. Though he didn't fail to notice that Jack was the topic of conversation and Tru looked as worried as he felt at the news that her counterpart had deliberately sent Davis out of town with a false report.

Tru looked up as she heard Harrison's footsteps and jumping up from her seat she enveloped him a tight hug.

"I've missed you," she said with a smile. "You're not starving without me buying your meals for you are you?"

"Nah," Harrison grinned back. "I'm managing to persuade plenty of other people to fork out for me, some far more easily than you."

"I'll have to tell Cassie to watch it," Tru suggested with a wicked grin. "She never struck me as a soft touch."

"So Veronica Carter is safe?" Davis asked from his seat at the computer.

"She was a little while ago," Harrison confirmed. "I left Cassie with her, she'd have phoned if anything had happened. We've all be hanging out and chatting all day. They're getting on great."

"That seems too easy," Tru frowned. "Didn't you see any danger or trouble or anything?"

"No," Harrison replied with a shrug. "Just a normal day."

"So no one tried to kill her and she didn't have an accident or anything?" Tru questioned.

"No," Harrison admitted. Now that Tru mentioned it, today had been rather too easy.

"I don't understand," Tru mumbled. "You must have done something to alter things or she would be here now."

"I don't know what," Harrison said as he sat back on one of the seats. "There is one thing though."

"Yes?" Tru asked.

"Your description was wrong."

"It might have been vague but I only saw her briefly," Tru explained.

"I don't mean vaguely wrong," Harrison interrupted, "her hair was red not white."

"It was definitely white," Tru argued.

"Not when I met her it wasn't."

"Maybe she was getting it done at the hairdressers but you stopped her," Davis suggested.

"Perhaps," Tru nodded.

There was no more time to speculate however as the phone rang out loudly. Davis picked it up and listened for a minute. Putting the phone down again he turned to Tru. "We have another victim coming in," he said with a frown.

"Veronica?" Tru asked.

"No," Davis replied. "This one's a man."

Harrison waited around in the morgue as Davis and Tru talked about what had happened to Veronica the previous day and he gave them as much detail as he could recall about what he had done since Tru's call that morning. They were still no closer to figuring out what had killed her when the sound of the doors opening heralded the new arrival.

Davis stood up and gestured for Tru to stay where she was. "If there's even a chance this day's going to rewind again, we need to talk about how to work this. You better wait here and let me have a look at this one alone for now."

Tru nodded in agreement and sat back to wait.

A few minutes later Davis returned to the room. "Daniel Winters, aged 48, a junior stockbroker, and from what you've said about yesterday, I'd say he died of the same cause of death as Veronica Carter."

"So you think the day is going to rewind again?" Harrison asked.

"Just in case it does, someone needs to stop me wasting so much time going out of town if Jack pulls the same stunt again as he did today," Davis turned to Tru.

"Right," Tru agreed. "I know where the phone on the plane is now so should be able to get to it quicker. I tried the morgue first today too. Now I know you're at home I'll try that number. What phone didthis nursedial you on?"

"My cell," Davis replied.

"Then I'll call on your home number so it will ring even if you're being duped on the other phone at the time," Tru stood up and walked to the door.

"What about me?" Harrison asked, feeling slightly left out of things.

"We'll need your help too," Tru pointed out. "We still don't know what has happened to alter things today so you're going to have to go and watch Veronica again, or she'll end up back here again."

"This is assuming the day rewinds again at all," Davis pointed out as he stood to one side to let Tru walk past him to where the body waited for her.

Harrison looked at Davis. Neither could do anything other than let Tru do what she had to.


	4. A Tense Day

_**A Tense Day**_

The sound of the phone ringing woke Harrison, who groaned and pulled the pillow over his head. It was still dark out. No one in their right mind would be phoning him at this time in the morning. If he ignored it perhaps they would go away.

The ringing persisted.

Harrison swore as he reached for the receiver. "This'd better be a life and death emergency," he muttered as he answered the call.

"Harrison? It's Davis," the voice came through loud and clear.

"Davis?" Harrison sprang up in seconds. "Is it Tru? Is she okay?"

"Tru's fine," Davis assured him. "She's having a multiple rewind day, this is the second time the day's rewound and she's back on the plane again."

"Huh?" was all Harrison could manage. After hearing that Tru was well he had looked immediately at the clock and, after seeing that it was just after six in the morning annoyance at the early morning call was starting to set in.

"I'm at the morgue," Davis continued. "I'm looking into cause of death before going to find the second victim. Tru needs you to find the first victim again and keep an eye on her like you did yesterday."

"I don't remember yesterday," Harrison pointed out. "How do I know what I did yesterday if I don't remember?"

"Tru gave me the details you gave her," Davis informed him. Harrison could hear a rustling of papers at the other end of the line as Davis searched for the notes he had obviously taken during Tru's call to him that morning."

"You got a pen handy?" Davis asked.

"No," Harrison replied as he moved to rummage through the drawer at the side of him for a pen and paper.

Finally ready he listened as Davis told him everything Tru had reported about the previous two versions of the day. Taking down the details that Davis gave to him and after promising that he would track down Veronica Carter, Harrison hung up the phone and collapsed back onto the bed.

A moment later he realised that Davis had told mentioned that Cassie had been with him yesterday when he had been keeping an eye on the victim. Feeling much better about running over the city looking for Tru's victim he got up and an hour later was heading across the city to Cassie's apartment block.

Cassie was up and dressed and holding a mug of coffee when Harrison arrived at her apartment. She looked surprised to see him standing at her door.

"Did we have plans today?" she asked with a look of confusion on her face.

"No," Harrison shook his head as she opened the door wide to let him in. "But I thought you might like to go to an auction today, for your business. Check out the stock."

"You thought that…" Cassie's voice faltered. "That doesn't sound like you. What's really going on?"

"Don't you want to?" Harrison asked, avoiding her question.

"I was planning on doing just that actually," Cassie admitted. "But it's hardly your scene, is it?"

Harrison shrugged; it wasn't his scene. He wondered if he should tell her the truth, but the only time they had come close to discussing Tru's unique gift Cassie had not believed him and had thrown him out of the apartment. He knew she knew there was something odd about his sister, but he had avoided telling her exactly what. No, he reasoned, there was no reason to tell her. "I'm just showing an interest in your work," Harrison finally offered with what he hoped was a dazzling smile that would convince her of his sincerity.

Cassie frowned slightly. He knew she was an expert liar herself, unfortunately she was also very adept at picking up on other people's lies too. Luckily for Harrison, Cassie was not big on picking arguments and after finishing off her coffee she grabbed her purse and agreed to accompany him to the auction.

They stopped off for breakfast at the diner where Cassie worked part time as a waitress and finally arrived at the auction house mid morning.

Harrison walked up to the front desk and the man who sat there. The man looked down his nose at Harrison and with a pinched expression, reluctantly offered his assistance.

"I'm looking for Veronica Carter," Harrison asked. "It's an emergency," he added when the man merely looked at him with suspicion.

"Very well," the man replied, and gave Harrison directions down the hall to where Mrs Carter had last headed.

Harrison moved towards the door, Cassie following behind him.

"Who's Veronica Carter?" she asked as soon as they were out of the earshot of the man on the reception.

"She owns an antiques store over on Third," Harrison explained. "You'll like her."

"You know her?" Cassie asked.

"Not exactly," Harrison replied. They were getting into dangerous territory now. How much could he tell her without actually telling her about Tru and her abilities? According to Davis's report from Tru, Cassie and Veronica had got along great. But how was he to explain that to Cassie when she had not even met the woman yet?

Cassie frowned again.

"Damn," Harrison muttered. He was used to having Tru come to his rescue with useful tips on her rewind days, especially when he was screwing up something in his personal life. Unfortunately it seemed like this time around things were not going as great as they had the previous day. According to Davis, he and Cassie had had a great day at the auction. He hoped that things would improve when they found Veronica Carter.

It was not long before Harrison found Veronica Carter. One of the staff at the auction pointed her out to him. She was standing looking at various items in the pottery section. Cassie looked at some of the items on the display herself as Harrison turned to introduce himself to Tru's victim.

"Mrs Carter?" he asked, wondering what story he had given the previous day they had met. Whatever it was for some reason Tru had not told Davis, or Davis had not told him. Or maybe he hadn't told Tru in the first place? This was getting confusing.

"Yes," the red-haired woman replied with a pleasant smile. "Can I help you?"

"Yeah," Harrison replied with a smile. "I was wondering if you could, er, help me out with some, er…"

"Bargains?" Mrs Carter suggested with another smile.

"Yeah," Harrison replied, clutching at the suggestion. Anything to keep her talking. This was just not his scene at all.

"Well the first thing to remember," Mrs Carter began, "is not to get caught up in a bidding war with others. The prices shoot up very quickly if you're not careful. You have to know your limit and stick to it."

"Like gambling?" Harrison asked, something familiar at last.

"Something like it, yes," Mrs Carter laughed.

"So the best thing is to find something no one else is bidding on?" he suggested.

"If you can," Mrs Carter agreed. "I buy for my store and only bid on items that no one else is interested in. Have you been to my store?"

"No," Harrison shook his head.

"Oh," Mrs Carter replied. "I thought perhaps you got my name from there."

"No," Harrison replied, wondering how to explain how he knew her name. Somehow, you died and asked my sister for help didn't sound very believable.

"Well never mind," Mrs Carter said with a smile.

"Harrison, what do you think of this?" Cassie interrupted from near the next display case.

Harrison excused himself for a moment and went to join Cassie who was pointing to a hideous looking vase.

"Not for me?" Cassie quickly assured him when he pulled a face. "I have a client who's interested in pieces from this time period. I can't get him on the phone though to find out if he wants me to bid on it for him."

"Someone would actually buy that?" Harrison asked, pulling another face at the revolting piece.

"He's got lots of similar items," Cassie said as she chewed on her lip. "I don't know whether to bid on it anyway and then take it over to him in the hope that he likes it."

"How much is it reserved for?" Mrs Carter asked from behind them.

"Two hundred dollars," Cassie said.

"That's awfully cheap," Mrs Carter agreed.

"That's cheap?" Harrison exclaimed.

"At that price, even if he doesn't like it, he'll almost certainly profit if he sells," Mrs Carter pointed out.

"I agree," Cassie nodded.

Several hours later Harrison, Cassie and Veronica Carter were eating a late lunch at an outdoor café. Just as Tru had reported, Cassie and Veronica were getting on like a house on fire.

Harrison sat back and drank his coffee as the two women chattered about every aspect of interior design he could think of and many he had never heard of.

"Well, it's been lovely," Veronica said with a sigh as they finished their meal. "But I really have to get back to work now."

Cassie sighed and nodded in agreement. "I should try to get hold of Mr Winters again to see if I can bring the vase over to his place."

"Mr Winters?" Harrison asked. Wasn't that the name of the victim on the second day? The one that Davis was presently keeping an eye on?

"My client," Cassie explained with a sigh of exasperation. "Don't you ever listen?"

"I've got to make a call," Harrison said as he jumped up from his seat and hurriedly dialled Davis's number. Making sure that neither Cassie nor Veronica could hear him he waited until Davis picked up the phone.

"Davis?" he asked.

"Yes," Davis replied. "Is that you Harrison?"

"Yeah," Harrison replied with another glance to where Cassie was saying goodbye to Veronica. "What's the name of the second victim again?"

"Daniel Winters," Davis replied. "I'm with him now actually."

"So you can't talk," Harrison stated, pointing out the obvious. "Ask him if he's getting his apartment done up will you?"

"What?" Davis asked in confusion.

"Ask him if he's getting his apartment done up," Harrison repeated.

"Okay," Davis replied. The phone then went muffled as he asked Daniel Winters the question. He came back through clear a moment later to confirm that he was.

"He's Cassie's client," Harrison said.

"Wait a minute would you Harrison?" Davis asked before the phone went muffled again.

"Okay, I can talk now," Davis said. "I doubt if it's a coincidence."

"No kidding," Harrison replied sarcastically. "So what does it mean?"

"I don't know," Davis admitted. "We've already passed the time of death for Veronica. Daniel's time is due to come up soon. I'll keep an eye on him until then."

"I'll meet you and Tru back at the morgue later then?"

"Okay," Davis replied.

Harrison ended the call and turned back to the table. Cassie however was directly behind him and had clearly heard every word.

"Funny place to meet up," she said. "The morgue, are you even allowed to be in there?"

"Sure," Harrison replied with a shrug. Now that he thought about it, he probably wasn't supposed to be in the place at all but Tru didn't seem to mind and today was important.

"Are you going to tell me what's really going on?" Cassie asked, a hard look in her eyes that told him that she was not going to let this one go and that the argument he had avoided this morning was only temporarily suspended.

"I can't," Harrison said as he pocketed his phone and avoided the cold gaze of his girlfriend.

"So the 'no more lies' agreement we have means nothing to you?" Cassie asked in a deceptively casual voice.

Harrison groaned and realised for the first time why it was that Tru had had such a hard time telling Luc her secret.

"It's not that easy," Harrison argued.

"I know there's something odd about your sister," Cassie continued. "I'm sorry I didn't believe you at first, but I've told you since then that I do. So why don't you just tell me what's going on?"

"It's not my secret to tell," Harrison countered.

"When your sister's secrets mean you're lying to me, I disagree with that," Cassie snapped as she turned on her heel and walked away.

"Cassie, wait up," Harrison called after her.

She didn't bother to turn around and carried on down the street.


	5. Third Time Unlucky

_**Third Time Unlucky **_

Scowling Harrison looked at his watch. Tru would just be arriving at the morgue about now. Maybe she would have a way to sort out the latest mess he had landed himself in.

"Hi Harrison," Tru greeted him as he walked into the office at the morgue.

Harrison mumbled a hello before sinking into a chair.

"What's wrong?" Tru asked in concern.

"Cassie," Harrison muttered. "We just had a bit of a fight."

"How come?" Tru asked. "I mean, you didn't yesterday."

"Well that was yesterday wasn't it?" Harrison muttered with am unnecessary hostile glare at his sister.

"I take it, the fight had something to do with me?" Tru guessed.

"Cassie knows we're keeping something from her and…" Harrison faltered.

"I thought you'd told her already?" Tru asked.

"Not exactly," Harrison sighed. "She said she believed that you knew she was in danger. I just never told her how it was you knew."

"Why not?" Tru asked.

"Because she'd think we're crazy!" Harrison declared, as though that should be obvious to everyone.

"Not because you're scared she'll throw you out again?" Tru asked.

Harrison turned away to look out of the window into the main area of the morgue. Tru was too astute for his own good sometimes.

"Harrison," Tru said quietly as she came to stand behind him. "If you don't tell her, it'll tear you apart. Just like it did for me and Luc."

"Luc didn't believe you," Harrison pointed out.

"He might have done if _he_ hadn't interfered," Tru reasoned. "But this isn't about me and Luc, this is about you and if you're going to continue helping me out, then sooner or later you're going to have to tell her."

"And if I don't?" Harrison asked, though he suspected he already knew the answer.

"Then you'll lose her," Tru stated simply.

Turning back to his sister, Harrison gave her a hug and realised that she was right. He might lose her if he told her, but he would definitely lose her if he didn't.

"Davis," Tru said with a grin when she spotted him in the doorway.

"Welcome back, Tru," Davis greeted her. "So how was Europe?"

"Great," Tru said with a smile. "No rewinds at all until this one. But I've already told you all about it, twice. So let's just concentrate on the victims this time around and if there's no rewind I'll fill you in again afterwards, okay?"

"Deal," Davis agreed as he sat down at his computer. "Daniel Winters is alive and well and appears to be in the best of health, as of," he glanced at his watch, "thirty minutes ago."

"Veronica Carter was alive when you last saw her, right?" Tru asked Harrison.

"Yeah, she was going back to work," Harrison nodded.

"So now we've had two victims on two rewind days and no way of telling how they died. Both are alive and well today and there's nothing to connect them?" Tru frowned. They were missing something but she had no idea what.

"Actually Harrison came up with a connection," Davis pointed out.

"Not much of one," Harrison shrugged.

"But the only one we have," Davis insisted.

"Well what is it?" Tru asked.

"Winters is a client of Cassie's," Harrison said. "She got a vase for him at the auction today."

"I wonder if that happened yesterday or not," Tru wondered. "You took Cassie with you then but never mentioned any purchases."

Harrison shrugged, he couldn't remember yesterday and had no way of knowing if she had bought anything for the man yesterday too.

"So what's different about this second day to the first rewind?" Davis asked.

"You," Tru said simply. "First rewind I could only contact Harrison and he somehow saved Veronica. This time he stuck with her and you went to find Daniel. What did you do today to alter things?"

"I went to his office, he had an appointment slot free and agreed to see me," Davis paused. "Then I hung around to keep an eye on things. Everything seemed fine. He spotted me mid-afternoon though and I just bombarded him with financial questions to keep him talking. He had the afternoon off and I just figured if I kept him talking he wouldn't go home until after whatever the danger was had gone."

"That was when I phoned?" Harrison asked.

"Yes," Davis nodded. "Then the time of death passed by and I left him to go on his way and came here."

"But there was no sign of danger or anything?" Tru asked both Harrison and Davis.

Both shook their heads in response.

"I don't get it," Tru said. "We're missing something but I don't know what. I have a feeling this isn't over and done with just yet."

"There's one other thing," Davis said. "You said Winters' hair was white."

"It was," Tru said.

"Not this afternoon it wasn't," Davis shook his head. "This afternoon it was black."

"Yesterday, you said Veronica's hair was red instead of white," Tru said to Harrison.

"If you say so," Harrison shrugged. "It was red today too."

"Strange," Tru said. "This isn't over."

"You think the day could rewind again?" Davis asked.

"Yeah," Tru sighed. "I think it could. And I'm really starting to hate flying too."

Harrison laughed and stood up.

"You going to try and sort things out with Cassie?" Tru asked.

"Yeah," Harrison nodded. "And if I screw it up at least it sounds like the day'll rewind again and maybe I'll have better luck tomorrow."

Tru rolled her eyes and shook her head.

It was nearly dark when Harrison reached Cassie's apartment building. He walked slowly up the stairs as he ran over in his mind what he was going to say to explain about Tru. He wondered if he should phone Tru and get her to come and help him out. It's not like he could prove anything and Tru might be able to, or if not this time round then certainly on the next rewind day.

He pulled out his phone and started to dial Tru's number. He could just wait out here until she arrived and then they could talk with Cassie together and take things from there.

The phone rang once before Harrison cut it off.

No, he thought. He didn't want to prove things to Cassie. He wanted her to trust him, to believe that he was telling the truth, without Tru and her abilities being on hand to save him.

Knocking on the door, he waited for Cassie to come and let him in. There was no answer. He wondered if she was working the evening shift at the diner. Or maybe she had gone over to deliver the vase to Winters.

He knocked again, a little louder this time and the door swung open slightly.

"Cassie, Cassie," he muttered. "You don't just leave your door open like this."

Shaking his head he stepped inside and looked around. Surely she wouldn't mind him waiting inside for her to get back?

Settling down on the sofa, Harrison shifted slightly and pulled out a purse from where it was digging into his back. It was Cassie's purse, the one she had been carrying today. She hadn't gone out without it, had she?

"Cassie?" he called out. He looked around the large airy room. Wherever she was in the apartment she had to have heard him.

He stood up and walked cautiously to the bedroom. He stopped at the door and hesitated. A feeling of dread swept over him as he looked round the room. She wasn't there. He breathed a sigh of relief before moving further into the room to look inside the open door of the bathroom.

He saw her immediately. Laid out on the floor of the bathroom, her long, black hair was now a stark white and spread out on the floor around her.

Her eyes were fixed and staring at the ceiling above her. He knew instantly that she couldn't see it, couldn't see him, couldn't see anything.

For a moment he stood in shock in the doorway. Then he rushed over to her and sank onto the cold, hard tiles of the floor. Pulling her into a seated position he realised immediately that there would be no chance of reviving her. He took one of her hands in his own and it was ice cold to the touch.

"No," he whispered, his voice catching on the single word of denial.

Pulling her limp body into his arms he sat back against the bathtub unheeding of the tears that had started to fall.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you," he whispered. "I'm so sorry I didn't trust you."

The phone in his pocket rang. He ignored it. Eventually it stopped.

* * *

_A/N - I was going to post parts three to five over the next two weeks but it looks like I am not going to have time now. So you get them all at once. But the price of the mass of updates is an evil cliffhanger. _

_Will get part six done as soon as I can but no promises as to exactly when. Please read and review in the meantime. The more people who are nagging me to update, the quicker I will get it done. _


	6. Taking Stock

_**Taking Stock**_

"Still no answer?" Davis asked as Tru frowned at the phone after trying to get in touch with Harrison for the third time.

"Something's wrong," she said as the phone rang continually before clicking into the answering service. "My phone rings once, stops, and now he's not answering."

"Maybe he rang you by mistake?" Davis suggested.

"Then why isn't he answering now?" Tru shook her head. "There's something wrong. I _know_ it."

"You don't know that," Davis pointed out. "Maybe he just doesn't want to be disturbed right now. Have you tried phoning Cassie's place direct?"

"I don't have the number," Tru admitted. She and Cassie had never really been friends and of the few times she had seen her without Harrison being present there were the times she was spying on her and the time she had thrown a bowl of soup over the unsuspecting girl. She wondered if she should have made more of an effort to get to know her and resolved that from now on she would. Harrison certainly seemed to like her and the last thing she wanted was for him to accuse her of disapproving of all his girlfriends again.

"Well it's quiet here if you want to go over to her place and check Harrison made it there okay," Davis suggested.

"Are you sure?" Tru asked. She didn't like leaving Davis alone when they could have a new victim arrive any minute. She felt she should stay. It was bad enough that her ability to relive the day meant she was often leaving Davis to carry on alone when she should be at work. To leave him now really didn't seem right. She wondered how much of wanting to stay was related to the feeling of dread that seemed to have settled over her.

"I'll call if I need you here," Davis insisted as he picked up Tru's jacket and passed it to her. "You're not even meant to be on this shift anyway."

"Okay," Tru agreed, moving towards the door. "I'll just stop by Cassie's and check nothing's wrong."

"I'm sure everything's fine," Davis reassured her. Tru nodded, unable to shake the feeling that something was definitely not right.

Tru hurried up the stairs to Cassie's apartment a short while later. The door was shut to but not entirely closed. She knocked and waited. There was no sound from inside. She knocked harder and the door swung open. She was always telling Harrison to remember to close doors properly, it looked like his girlfriend had the same bad habit as he did.

Tru stepped into the room and looked around. It appeared to be deserted.

"Cassie?" she called out as she closed the door behind her.

"Harrison?" she tried again. There was still no answer.

Tru looked towards the bedroom door that stood open. The room was empty and Tru breathed a sigh of relief that her timing was not entirely bad.

She wasn't sure what it was that drew her attention further into the room. Maybe it was a small sound or the sliver of light from inside. Whatever it was Tru found herself walking into the bedroom and turning towards the glaring light of the bathroom.

She saw Harrison immediately and froze.

She felt like an intruder as she watched her brother quietly whispering to his girlfriend who, she could see, would never hear what he was saying. She wanted to step forward and tell him that it would be all right. She wanted to have the day rewind as quickly as possible and erase the look of grief from his eyes. She wanted to reassure him that tomorrow it would be different but she couldn't move from the spot where she stood.

_They're meant to die_ she recalled Jack telling her countless times. With Harrison's help, she had saved Cassie once before and now, just a few weeks later, she was dead, again. She knew Jack would say that it was meant to be this way, that you can't cheat fate forever. But she couldn't accept it, any more than she could ignore her calling completely.

"Harrison?" Tru finally spoke. Her voice broke the quiet and sounded strange to her own ears.

"Tru?" Harrison looked up, startled. His eyes were reddened and filled with sadness, horror and something else Tru couldn't quite recognise. It was a look she couldn't remember ever seeing on her fun-loving brother's face before. It was a look she never wanted to see on his face again.

She knew instinctively that the day was going to rewind again. She was grateful that when it did Harrison would not remember anything about this version of the day. She only wished that she could forget the look on his face as easily.

"What happened?" Tru asked, moving forward and sitting down by her brother who had not moved from his spot on the floor.

"I don't know," he replied as he brushed Cassie's hair back from where it had fallen into her eyes. "She was…like this…when I got here."

"Why didn't you call me Harry?" Tru asked.

"I don't know," Harrison whispered, shaking his head.

"Did you see anyone when you got here?" Tru asked, eager to find out as much as she could and get to the rewind point.

"No," Harrison replied. "She was in here when I got here. I didn't even get a chance to say I'm sorry."

"I'm sure she knows," Tru assured him as she drew him into a hug.

"You have to stop this happening again," Harrison stated, his voice rising.

"We will," Tru insisted.

"Not we, _you_," Harrison repeated.

"I can't do this one on my own Harrison, you know that."

"You'll have to. You've got Davis. He'll help again. Just leave me out of it."

"You don't mean that."

"Yes I do!" Harrison hissed, his voice quietly determined. "This is my fault, so leave me out of tomorrow's rewind so I can't screw it up again."

"It's not your fault," Tru argued, aghast that Harrison had come to that conclusion.

"The day keeps rewinding and all my help gets you is a new victim and this time it's Cassie. So you really should look at getting someone else to help next time around."

"It's not your fault," Tru argued. "It's no one's fault. We just have to figure out what's happening and stop anyone from dying."

"_You_ have to," Harrison pointed out as he gathered Cassie into his arms and carried her through to the bedroom. Tru followed behind him and watched as he laid her out carefully on the bed.

"Harrison?" Tru asked as she watched him carefully close Cassie's eyes.

"I'll be through there," Harrison said quietly as he moved away from the bed and towards the doorway.

"Wait a minute," Tru said.

"What for?" Harrison asked in a dismal tone. "I just want this day over with. You know it won't rewind with me in here. If it was going to do it would have already."

"I want to look around first," Tru explained. "See if I can figure out what's happened before the day restarts. You stay with Cassie while I look around in case she asks for help before I'm done."

"Okay," Harrison nodded, sitting down on the edge of the bed.

Tru turned back towards the bathroom and stepped through the door again. She saw the vase almost immediately. It was stood on the counter next to the sink. There was a damp cloth on the floor, but other than that there was nothing out of place in the room.

"Is this the vase from the auction?" Tru called through to Harrison.

"Ugly looking beige and brown thing?" Harrison asked.

"Yeah."

"Then yeah, that's what she got from the auction. What about it?"

"It's the only connection we have."

"So the vase is somehow killing people?" Harrison asked, sounding clearly sceptical and slightly impatient.

"Could be."

"You don't think that sounds a little strange?"

"Stranger than my hearing dead people asking for help and reliving days?" Tru pointed out.

Tru picked up the vase to study the base. There were no markings to indicate its origin or maker. It felt heavy for its size. The vase itself was covered in markings that looked vaguely Egyptian but Tru didn't know enough about ancient texts to know the difference between the various scripts, and she certainly didn't know how to read the inscription that circled the vase.

"You don't think that theory's a little strange even for you?" Harrison remarked with just a trace of his old humour returning.

"I think next time around we need to get this vase and get it to the morgue as quickly as possible. Do you think you could pick it out again with a description from me?"

"I told you to leave me out of it tomorrow," Harrison insisted with a glare at Tru as she came walked back into the bedroom with the vase in her hands.

"Fine," Tru replied calmly, knowing that Harrison would forget all about the conversation anyway. She felt slightly uneasy about lying to him but if saving his girlfriend's life wasn't a good enough reason, then she didn't know what was.

She knew she could get Davis to go to the auction house instead of Harrison but somehow she felt that if she did that she would be cheating her brother out of the chance to prove he could help. She had the impression that on occasions Harrison had been disappointed that Tru was always asking Davis for help before him. Even this time she had called Davis first and only resorted to enlisting Harrison's help when she could not contact Davis.

She knew that Harrison was always one to take the easy option through life but just recently she had been seeing a difference to him. Since his break up with Lindsay he seemed to be taking stock of things. He hadn't looked for a job yet but helping her out on the rewind days was a start to his finding a purpose in his life.

Tru knew instinctively that if she did as he asked now and cut him out of her plans and only turned to Davis he would soon revert back to his old irresponsible self. Worse still, unless she told him about Cassie's fate today, he wouldn't even know why he was being cut out of things. He would just think that he was being overlooked because he would let her down or disappoint her.

It wasn't that he was a disappointment, Tru just felt it was a shame that he was wasting his life, because when he made an effort he could do anything he put his mind to. Sometimes he just needed a little push in the right direction and like it or not when the day rewound he was going to get one massive shove in the right direction.

"I'll get Davis to go and buy it," Tru lied, her mind made up. "How much was it marked for?"

"Two hundred dollars," Harrison replied. "Apparently it's a bargain."

"It is rather awful isn't it?" Tru grinned.

"Even without the potentially lethal properties," he replied. "Now can we just get this day over and done with?"

Tru put the vase on the bedside table and nodded.

Harrison stood up and put his arms round Tru holding her close. "You have to save her," he whispered, his voice breaking again. Tru nodded as she hugged him back and then watched as he left the room. He glanced back to the bed one last time when he reached the door. He didn't need to say anything else.

Tru looked at Cassie where she lay, patient and silent. She looked towards the doorway, a feeling of dread starting to rise. The last time she had felt this way was when she had waited for Harrison to ask her for help. He had waited so long to ask her she had thought for a moment that she had lost him forever.

"Ask me Cassie," Tru whispered with a nervous glance towards the door. She couldn't go through there and tell Harrison the day was not rewinding. She just couldn't. "You have to ask me. You asked me before. You have to ask me again."

There was still no movement from the lifeless Cassie.

"Please Cassie," Tru whispered. "You have to give me the chance to save you. You have to give Harrison the chance to make things up to you. Please."

Finally the air seemed to still and for a moment there was nothing and no one else in the world except Cassie as she turned her head towards Tru.

"Help me," she asked as Tru's day spiralled backwards and the rewind heralded another chance to put things right.


	7. Out of the Loop

_**Out of the Loop**_

Tru woke up back on the plane.

"Are you all right Miss?" the stewardess asked as she passed by with the refreshments.

"I need to use the phone," Tru explained as she jumped up out of her seat. "It's an emergency."

"Certainly Miss," the stewardess replied, whilst pointing Tru in the direction of the phone.

Tru didn't need directions to find her way. She had only needed help during the first rewind. The layout of the plane was now as familiar to her as the layout of the morgue or her apartment.

Making her way down the aisle she reached the phone quickly and dialled Davis's number.

"Davis, it's Tru," she said as she rushed into yet another explanation about the day and the fake emergency Jack had concocted. "I need you to look up ancient texts, Egyptian and stuff like that."

"What am I looking for?" Davis asked over the crackling line.

"Translations for a vase that Harrison is going to get to you later this morning."

"Do you need me to call him and let him know what's happening?"

"No, I'll do it," Tru answered. "I'll call you as soon as we land."

Tru looked at the phone after hanging it up. She had not told Davis everything about the previous rewind and had made sure not to mention who the latest victim was, only that the vase connected all of them. Since he had discovered her secret she had rarely kept anything from him that was so important about the day. But she didn't want Harrison knowing and the best way to ensure that was to tell absolutely no one.

The calling was her burden and the knowledge of what had happened during previous days was a part of that. There was no reason for Harrison to be told about what had happened and no reason for him to be hurt again.

She wondered briefly if she should have got Davis to phone Harrison and fill him in on what he needed to do but discarded the idea. She had to do it herself. She had to tell him to tell Cassie the truth, and she had to hear that he was all right. She knew that he would not remember anything about the previous day, but still she knew she would not be able to relax until she heard his usual cheerful voice. Or in this case, his grumpy, early morning voice, as he was about to get yet another early morning wake up call that he would certainly complain about.

Realising that she was stalling and the call would not get any easier the longer she left it, Tru picked up the receiver and dialled Harrison's number.

"This'd better be a life and death emergency," Harrison's sleepy voice came through the line.

"Harrison. I need a favour. It's a rewind day and I need you and Davis to help."

"It's just after four in the morning," Harrison complained. "What sort of favour requires such an early start?"

"Sorry, I'm in the air at the moment and can't risk phoning later in case I don't get through. We coming to some heavy weather soon."

"You started your rewind day on the plane?" Harrison asked. "How did that happen?"

"I don't have time to explain," Tru rushed. The line was starting to worsen as the weather outside did likewise. "I need you to go to an antiques auction and buy a vase for me. Then take it to Davis at the morgue."

"Your emergency is to go do your shopping?" Harrison asked with a laugh. "That doesn't sound like you."

"It's an antique vase," Tru explained. "It looks like it might be Egyptian and it's really ugly. Davis is going to try and get the markings translated. Take Cassie with you, tell her to look for something for Mr Winters and she should find it. She bought it for him yesterday."

"I take it Mr Winters is the victim?" Harrison asked.

"One of them," Tru replied. "It's a multiple rewind day and the vase is the only connection between the victims." It was the truth she silently reasoned, just not the whole truth. She hurried on to give him the details he needed before he could ask anything about the other victims.

"Anything else?" Harrison asked after he had assured her he had the details of the auction written down.

"You need to tell Cassie the truth," Tru said, crossing her fingers as she spoke. "If you don't you'll lose her."

"You mean tell her about you?" Harrison asked doubtfully.

"Yes," Tru replied, biting her lip nervously. She hoped that she was doing the right thing, advising him to tell someone her secret. Again she regretted not getting to know Cassie better in the last few months. She hoped that she was not connected to the press or anyone else who would make her life difficult. She trusted Harrison with her life but when it came to women he hadn't the best of track records. She hoped that this time he had finally got things right.

"You do realise she'll think I'm nuts?" Harrison pointed out. "Things are going good for us at the moment. You think I want to screw it up by telling her my sister relives days?"

"If you don't tell her it's going to break you up. You can't keep helping me out in secret and have an honest relationship. I know that better than anyone."

"You'd trust her with your secret?" Harrison asked.

"I don't really know her," Tru admitted. "But I'm trusting you."

"Okay," Harrison replied as the line started to break up completely. "I'll rope her into helping and I'll _think_ about telling her about you."

"Good enough," Tru answered as the line finally cut out.

Turning around she looked back towards her seat. The in-flight movie was already underway. She had slept through the start each and every time. The woman in the seat next to her looked fine but Tru was getting the hang of things and ducked into the stewardess's cubicle and acquired some tissues. The movie was a romantic weepy and the woman next to her would be crying buckets in, she looked at her watch, about fifteen minutes.

Settling back into her seat she mulled over the previous day's events. Usually when she was in a rewind day it involved non-stop researching and running around about from start to finish. It was disconcerting to find herself continually stuck on a plane, unable to help and leaving the rescue in the hands of Davis and Harrison.

She hoped that this time Harrison managed to sort things out with Cassie. It was not so long ago that he had been dating her friend Lindsay and Tru knew, although Lindsay didn't, that their relationship would have fallen apart long before it finally did, had it not been for Tru's assistance in helping Harrison to do the right thing. When he messed things up on a day that subsequently rewound, Tru had been as active in helping him sort out his relationship problems as she had been in saving that day's victim.

The problem this time around was that Tru didn't know Cassie like she did Lindsay. If Harrison bought Cassie the wrong present, Tru wasn't likely to know about it and would have no idea what to advise him to buy instead when he got his second chance.

Tru idly wondered if one of the reasons she now wanted to get to know Cassie better might be so that she could once again help out Harrison when he messed things up and the relationship started to fall apart. If she had known Cassie better then she would know whether she would believe Harrison when he told her the secret, and more importantly whether she could be trusted with it.

She took a moment to wonder why she had not worried about Cassie knowing her secret before. Up until yesterday she had thought she knew. She had been quick to tell Harrison to tell her the truth both yesterday and today. It seemed so clear until she had time to sit down and worry about the consequences of other people knowing about her ability.

Tru had never told Lindsay about her calling and she wondered why she had never confided in her closest friend during the last year. She recalled again that she had never confided in her about Mark either.

Maybe it was something to do with her, and her ability to open up to people?

She frowned in concentration. The flight seemed longer each time she had to sit through it and she didn't like where her thoughts were headed this time. The woman beside her started to quietly sob as she watched the movie. Tru passed her a tissue, which she accepted with a weak smile.

"I love this movie," the woman whispered as she dabbed her eyes.

Tru smiled back, happy for any distraction from her thoughts. But the distraction was short-lived and she was soon wrapped up in her thoughts and wondering how Davis and Harrison were getting on with their respective tasks.

They were in the thick of the stormy weather when Tru began to have serious second thoughts about Harrison telling Cassie the truth. But there was no possibility of another phone call to tell him she had changed her mind. It was too late to take the words back and all she could do was hope things worked out for the best. And if they didn't that the day rewound again.

* * *

Harrison looked at the clock after hanging up the phone. He wondered whether to try to go back to sleep again but he was now wide awake and he knew that there would be little chance of him managing to get any more sleep now. 

He wondered what had happened the previous day to cause Tru to tell him to tell Cassie her secret. It wasn't like her to want anyone to know about it. She hadn't even told Lindsay about her ability. He knew it was nothing to do with Tru liking Cassie, he knew that they barely knew each other. He wondered again what had happened the previous day and came to the conclusion that somehow Tru's secret had caused a fight between him and Cassie. It was the only explanation he could think of. If Cassie had been helping him the previous day, and he had been helping Tru, it stood to reason that Cassie might figure out something odd was going on.

But tell her the truth?

Harrison still recalled the last time he and Tru had considered telling Cassie the truth. They hadn't even got to the reliving days part when she had thrown the two of them out of her apartment.

She had been open-minded about Tru's "premonition" later that night, Harrison recalled. But that didn't mean she would believe the rest of the story. It wasn't like he had believed it at first and he was her brother.

No, he decided. If Cassie figured out the truth like Davis had it would be one thing. But he didn't want to risk telling her and having her dump him when they had only just got together. He had never thought of himself as a coward before and didn't like to think of himself as one now. But if Tru's secret had caused a problem between them yesterday, then all he had to do was make sure that today he kept her happier, without spilling Tru's secret.

He wondered if he could perhaps leave her out of things altogether today. But she was the only one who would know Mr Winters and his taste in ugly vases. It was no use. He couldn't leave her out of things, and he couldn't bring her into the loop without risking losing her.

A few hours later he still hadn't made up his mind entirely. The idea of telling her had at first seemed like one doomed to complete failure. But as the light of the new day had crept up over the horizon he had wondered what it would be like if he told her and she believed him. If he told her the truth about Tru and she accepted it he would have someone else to talk to about the whole crazy situation. Better yet, he knew instinctively that he would find talking to her would be a lot more interesting that talking to Davis who did have a tendency to drone on rather incessantly about the whole business, taking a lot of the fun out of things.

Harrison was still contemplating whether to tell her or not as he stood outside of Cassie's apartment and knocked on the door.


	8. Secrets and Truths

_**Secrets and Truths**_

"Morning," Harrison greeted Cassie with an uneasy smile as she opened the door.

"Did we have plans today?" she replied as she stepped aside to let him in.

"Not exactly," Harrison replied, wondering how to explain that he knew she would be spending the day with him because they already had.

"Are you okay?" Cassie asked in a concerned voice as they walked through to the kitchen and she poured them each a coffee. Harrison accepted the mug with gratitude and took a drink of the hot beverage as he wondered what to say again.

Cassie sipped at her own coffee without saying a word. Harrison eventually finished off his mug and turned to pour himself another. He was reaching across the counter when Cassie pulled his mug aside and placed it out of his reach.

"You're stalling," she said bluntly.

"Well it's…" Harrison started before his voice faded out into a hushed mumble that he could barely hear himself and knew Cassie would not be able to understand. This was much harder than he thought it would be.

Tru had been insistent that he tell her the truth but he just couldn't bring himself to do it.

It wasn't that he didn't trust Cassie with the secret. He knew that she could keep a secret. She had certainly kept their own "pretending to date" scam a secret, even in the face of Tru throwing soup over her when she had thought she caught her cheating.

He still didn't know why he hadn't told Cassie the whole truth that night after Tru's warning about danger had come true. A part of him wondered if it was because the look on her face as she had thrown himself and his sister out of her apartment was still fresh in his mind. But that had been a few weeks ago now and although he knew that Cassie was waiting for him to come forth with the explanation for Tru's warning he had managed to skilfully avoid the whole issue. At least he had until now.

Looking up from the counter he saw that whilst he had been reflecting on whether to tell Cassie what was going on, she had in the meantime drawn her own conclusions. A look of resigned sadness was on her face as she turned away from his gaze and busied herself at the sink.

"There are a couple of your CDs over by the hi-fi," Cassie said with forced brightness. "I don't think there's anything else of yours over here but I'll let you know if I find anything."

"What?" Harrison asked. "You think I've come over here to break up with you?"

"Haven't you?" Cassie asked, her voice betraying the fact that she had clearly thought exactly that.

"God no," Harrison explained as he moved round the counter and took Cassie into his arms. "Whatever gave you that idea?"

"Dumb huh?" Cassie mumbled into his chest. "I thought maybe you were getting bored now that you don't have to pretend to date me."

"Bored?" Harrison asked with a laugh as he led her over to the couch. "Never."

"So if you didn't come over here for that, why are you here and what is it you can't seem to tell me?" Cassie asked as she chewed her lip in nerves.

Harrison leaned back on the couch and closed his eyes. He was still no nearer to telling her the truth than he had been before.

"Well?" she pressed on, as he remained silent.

"Damn this is hard," Harrison muttered as he leaned forward and dropped his head into his hands.

"Am I that difficult to talk to?" Cassie asked quietly.

"About this, anyone would be difficult to talk to," Harrison consoled her. "The problem is you won't believe what I tell you and I don't know how to tell you this without you thinking I'm completely crazy and…"

"Would it help if I said I already thought you were mad?" Cassie asked with a wicked grin that brought a smile to Harrison's worried face.

"Not really," Harrison grinned. "What I'm supposed to tell you would just confirm it for you."

"Is it that bad?"

"Not bad so much as unusual and strange."

"Unusual?" Cassie asked and Harrison watched as something seemed to register in her eyes. "That's what you said about your sister knowing things. You said she knows unusual things."

Harrison cast his mind back to that day and realised that she was right. It was exactly what he had said that day too. He automatically looked towards the door and recalled again the look on Cassie's face as she had called him insane and thrown him out.

"This has something to do with your sister doesn't it?" Cassie asked quietly.

Harrison nodded in response.

"Has she had some sort of premonition about me again? Is that it?"

"No, it's not that exactly," Harrison said before he suddenly recalled Tru's voice as she had made her odd request that he tell Cassie the truth. Now he thought about it she hadn't sounded entirely like herself. She had said it was a multiple rewind day and the vase was the only connection between the victims. Cassie's client was one of the victims and Cassie had bought the vase for him.

It couldn't be, he told himself. Tru would've told him. She wouldn't have kept something like that from him. Or would she? She hadn't told him who the other victim or victims was. Would she have deliberately kept it from him if one of the victims was Cassie?

"What is it?" he heard Cassie ask though her voice seemed to come from a distance.

"I've got to go," Harrison blurted as he jumped up from the couch. A feeling of uneasiness had come over him as he realised that Tru may have lied to him. Assuming she had, he knew why she had done it. She had done it for the same reason she did anything else as far as he was concerned. She had done it to help him and protect him. A part of him could understand that but another part of him was furious that in her efforts to protect him she was happy to put his girlfriend's life into danger.

"Harrison?" Cassie called after him as he bolted for the door.

"I'll call you later," he yelled back as she stood at the apartment doorway as he sprinted down the stairs and headed to the auction house alone.

He walked into the auction house and searched for the vase Tru had told him about. After half an hour he was tempted to call Cassie and get her to come and help him out but the thought of her ending up in the morgue stopped him from reaching for his phone.

Eventually he found the vase he was sure was the right one. It was as ugly as Tru had said and was one of only two vases marked at two hundred dollars. The other was painted blue and white and was clearly not the one he was looking for.

His joy at finding the vase was short lived however when he realised he had no idea how he was going to pay for the thing. It might be a bargain at two hundred dollars but he didn't have even half of that to pay for the thing.

Pulling out his phone he sought out Cassie's number but hesitated to dial it. The only other option was to phone the morgue and hope that Davis was there.

Harrison stood next to the display of vases as he contemplated who he should phone. He stepped aside for one of the auctioneers to get passed him and watched as they picked up the vase and took it away to be bid on. Time was running out if he was going to get the vase for Tru.

"Oh hell," Harrison muttered as he dialled and listened to the ringing as he waited for the phone to be answered.


	9. Crumbling Relations

_**Crumbling Relations **_

Davis answered the phone on the second ring.

"Davis, I need two hundred dollars," Harrison asked in a rush.

"Tru told me never to lend you money," Davis said with a laugh.

"It's for the vase," Harrison said, hoping that his sister had filled Davis in on all the details.

"Didn't Tru check you had the money before sending you to buy it?"

"No, she probably thought Cassie would pay for it like before," Harrison replied with a sigh. Maybe it hadn't been a good idea to leave Cassie out of things. He didn't know for sure that she was one of the victims. Maybe he had been wrong. No, he reasoned, it was better to play it safe and leave her out of things. "Do you have the money?"

"Yeah, but it'll take a while to get it to you."

"It's going onto the block now." Harrison looked up to see the vase being held high enough for everyone in the room to see.

"Can you pay later?" Davis asked.

"I don't know," Harrison replied. "I've never been to one of these things before."

"Okay," Davis paused, considering their options. "Let someone else buy it and then see if you can purchase it from them privately afterwards."

"No problem," Harrison answered and ended the call. If there was one thing he knew he could do it was talk almost anyone into almost anything.

Five minutes later he left the auction house with the winning bidder, the only bidder, Veronica Carter as she left the building with her new purchase.

"You want the vase I just bought?" Veronica asked in surprise. "Why didn't you just bid on it inside?"

"I was waiting for someone," Harrison explained. Or waiting for a miracle he thought.

"Well I was planning on marking it up and selling it on in my store anyway. If you really want it I don't see why not. It'll be the quickest turn around on an auction purchase I've ever made."

"Great," Harrison breathed a sigh of relief. "I just need to go get the money. You'll hold it for me?"

"Sure," Veronica dug into her purse and pulled out a business card. "This is my store," she explained as she handed it to him.

Harrison took the card, nodded and then hurried across town to the morgue.

It was nearly lunchtime when he walked into the Veronica's store armed with $300 of Davis's money. He had forgotten to ask what she was going to sell the vase for but thankfully Davis had thought to provide him with, what he hoped, was more than enough. He was also under orders to get a receipt. It was a sorry day when even his sister's boss didn't trust him.

"Can I help you?" the young man behind the counter asked as Harrison walked over to the counter. He looked thoroughly bored with his work and far from interested in helping customers.

"Is Veronica in?" Harrison asked as he looked about the musty store.

The young man nodded and let out at ear-piercing yell. "Aunt Ronnie, someone to see you!"

A moment later Veronica walked into the store through the door at the back of the counter. "Ah, the young man who wants to buy the vase," she greeted him with a smile. "I'll just go fetch it for you."

She returned with the vase a minute later and Harrison watched her re-wrap it and box it up. It really was the ugliest thing he had ever seen. Then after paying for his purchase he hurried out of the store and made his way to the morgue. He hoped that Davis was having success and finding translation sites for the vase's inscriptions.

"Got it!" Harrison called out as he walked into the morgue.

"Through here," Davis called from the office.

Harrison walked through the door as he struggled to pull the vase from the box. "I hope you can get this translated before someone else dies."

"Dies?" a familiar voice asked.

Harrison looked up from his struggles in horror. "Cassie, what're you doing here?" he blurted out.

"I came to see what the hell was wrong with you this morning," she replied in a curt tone. "You seem to hang out here a lot so I stopped by and when Davis said you were coming over I thought I'd wait. Now I'm wondering why I bothered."

Harrison stood mute in the doorway as Cassie stood up, grabbed her purse and started to walk past him.

"No, wait," Harrison started, putting the vase down on the desk. Distracted as he was he noticed Davis reaching for the vase and turning to his computer. He suspected he was not only eager to get started on the translation but that he was also being tactful in giving them some space.

Nodding through the door he led Cassie into the main part of the morgue and shut the door closed behind them.

"I'm sorry," he started again. "I was just surprised to see you here, that's all."

"But obviously not a nice surprise," Cassie retorted, her patience clearly running very thin. "You're obviously really busy, what with your hectic schedule of shopping. I'll just leave you to it, shall I?"

"It's not that I don't want you here," Harrison replied. Actually that is exactly what it was he silently wondered. Just not for the reason she was thinking.

"So you're happy for me to hang out here with you for a while?" Cassie asked sceptically.

"Well…" Harrison faltered. The last thing he wanted was for her to be in danger. But how to get rid of her without hurting her feelings was not going to be easy.

"That's what I thought," Cassie sighed and walked towards the door. Harrison realised he had hesitated too long.

"Dammit," he muttered. "Cassie, come back. I'll explain."

She paused at the door, her hand already raised to push it open.

"Please," he added when she didn't turn back to face him.

It was only a few seconds but seemed like much longer before Cassie finally lowered her hand and turned round again.

"Come through here," he said as he walked back into the office where Davis was gleefully examining the vase and making very positive sounding noises as he referenced the markings on the vase with similar symbols on his computer monitor.

He took a seat beside Davis. Cassie sat down at the opposite side of the room, close to the door.

She looked at him expectantly.

He looked to Davis for help but none was forthcoming. At this rate nothing would be resolved by the time Tru came back. He wondered how long it would be before she returned.

"Have you heard from Tru yet?" he asked Davis, knowing he was stalling for time but unable to stop himself.

"Not yet," Davis confirmed. "But she's not due to land for a few hours yet."

"Are you going to tell me what this is all about?" Cassie asked. Harrison looked her in the face and knew that there was no way he could manage to stall long enough for Tru to get back and help him out. Usually he found that he could talk his way out of anything but despite not knowing him for that long, Cassie knew him well enough to anticipate pretty much all of his tricks.

"It's about Tru," he began. It was as good a start as any.

"I gathered that already," Cassie said. "What about her?"

"It's complicated," Harrison looked across at Davis again and saw that his attention had been drawn away from the inscriptions and he was frowning at him. He knew he as silently trying to warn him about saying too much. He realised Davis didn't know that Tru had told him to tell Cassie about her ability. Davis's next words confirmed that.

"Harrison, don't you think maybe it's for Tru to tell people?"

"She told me to tell her," Harrison replied turning back to Cassie who was avidly watching the exchange.

"Are you sure?" Davis asked.

"No," Harrison muttered. "I'm about to lose my girlfriend because of Tru's secret so no, I'm about as not sure as you can get."

"You're so sure I'm going to dump you?" Cassie asked with a frown.

"Yes…no…I don't know," Harrison finally admitted. "I'm a gambler, I take risks, but I don't know if I want to be taking this one right now."

"I promise to hear you out," Cassie offered. "Just tell me what's going on."

"Tru relives days to save people's lives," Davis said bluntly. Harrison turned to him in surprise. "Well we'll be here all week if we have to wait for you to get round to telling her," he pointed out with a shrug.

"Relives days?" Cassie asked.

"Yeah," Harrison nodded. "People ask her for help and she gets to relive the day and help them."

"You're serious?"

"Yeah."

"So how does it work?" Cassie asked, leaning forward in her seat. Harrison breathed a sigh of relief that she wasn't walking out the door and actually seemed genuinely interested in what she had been told.

"I have a theory about the whole thing…" Davis began before Harrison cut in to stall him.

"Davis, the inscription," he reminded him. Davis nodded and carried on examining the vase.

"We don't know how it works," Harrison admitted. "Not even Tru knows. It just happens, and has been for over a year now. A dead body asks her for help and the day rewinds and she saves them." He halted at that. At least she tried to save them. With Jack hindering their efforts it meant that not every rewind day was a success.

"I died, didn't I?" Cassie whispered. "That night at the river?"

Harrison nodded.

"I'm sorry I threw you out that day," she offered with a weak smile. "I just…"

"I know," Harrison interrupted. "We just sounded so insane."

"Yeah," Cassie agreed with a wider grin. "I guess I can see why you had trouble telling me."

"I can't believe you believe us," Harrison grinned.

"I'm not entirely sure I do," Cassie admitted. "But I'm willing to at least listen this time. Deal?"

"Deal."

"So who's the victim today? It's not me again is it?" She grinned and stood up to see what Davis was doing.

"Your client Winters is one of the victims," Harrison said. He paused and frowned. Something still nagged at him about Tru's voice that morning. He was almost sure that Cassie was one of the other victims but he couldn't bring himself to tell her that, especially without knowing for sure.

Cassie nodded and pointed at something on the computer screen. "That symbol with the legs there. It's on the vase here."

Davis looked at the vase and quickly found the matching symbol. The other markings close to it also matched those on the screen.

"So what does it mean?" Harrison asked as he too leaned in to get a closer look.

"Death," Davis grimly replied.

"That's great," Harrison muttered. "Why am I not surprised that this vase, according to Tru the only connection between the victims, had death written on it?"

"I guess we better keep working on the rest," Davis said. "At least now I know what language we are looking at."

For the next few hours the three of them took turns in squinting at the similar looking symbols on the computer screen and comparing them to those on the vase. Tru called Davis to say she was back in the country and they each took a break for lunch, but other than that they didn't stop.

They were still no nearer to figuring out the entire translation when Tru finally walked through the door, still carrying her suitcase.

"How's the translation going?" she asked as she put down her case, gave Harrison a quick hug and leaned over the desk to see the notes that they had been scribbling down all afternoon.

"We're pretty sure the vase is what's killing people," Davis said. "The inscription seems to be something about death and a curse."

"Think you're up to the job of stopping a curse?" Harrison asked.

"I'm sure we'll figure it out," Tru replied with a curious glance at Cassie. She raised her eyebrow at Harrison and he nodded back in reply. "Great, no more secrets to worry about today."

"You're sure about that?" Harrison asked in a tone that sounded harsh even to himself.

"What do you mean?" Tru asked, her voice sounding a shade too casual.

"I think you know what I mean," Harrison replied as he grabbed hold of her arm and pulled her through the door and into the other room. He shut the door on Davis and Cassie and walked his sister to the far side of the room before turning to glare at her. "Did she die yesterday?" he asked in fury. He didn't need to clarify who. Tru's glance straight through the window at Cassie was enough to answer his question.

"You lied to me," he accused.

"I didn't lie," Tru argued. "I just didn't tell you."

"Same difference," Harrison shouted. "How could you do that? How could you not tell me that my girlfriend's going to die? And even worse, how can you justify telling me to do the same as we did yesterday and put her in danger again?"

He looked at Tru and waited for her reply. She trusted him to tell his girlfriend her biggest secret but didn't trust him enough to tell him all the facts. He wondered how many other times she had lied to him and kept things from him. Even worse he wondered whether he could completely trust her again.

* * *

A/N - I love to hear what people think of the direction of this story. So please read and review. Assuming anyone is still reading of course.


	10. Curses

_**Part Ten – Curses**_

"It wasn't like that," Tru replied. "We're changing things today. I don't want her in danger any more than you do."

"You're sure about that?" Harrison hissed. "I just can't think of any reason at all why you wouldn't tell me. Except that you just don't care."

"That's not true," Tru sobbed, tears starting to run down her face. Harrison paused a moment as he took in his sister's reaction. He hated to see her cry and felt terrible that he was the cause of it. But right now he was too angry to care enough to put things right.

"Give me one good reason why you didn't tell me," he demanded, his voice rising.

"Because I didn't want to see your heart break again," Tru snapped back as she brushed the tears from her face. "Because I didn't want to risk seeing the look on your face again that I saw when I found you with her body."

"I found her?" Harrison asked, his voice dropping to almost a whisper in his shock. It was not the answer he was expecting. But whilst his own tone had quietened, Tru was now giving as good as she had received.

"Yes you found her," she sobbed. "And I found you. And I didn't want to put that look of grief on your face again. It's bad enough I have to remember it but I thought that if you didn't know I wouldn't have to see that look again. You were never meant to know."

"You can't protect me from every bad thing in the world Tru," Harrison said quietly as his sister sobbed in earnest. He moved forward to put his arms around her.

"I can try," she cried into his shirt. "You don't know what it's like to remember. To remember everything no matter how many times you live through the day and no matter what it is that I change. You forget everything and start over with your memories of the day gone. I remember them. I remember seeing those I love dying and even when it changes I still remember. I can still see your body as clearly as we both saw Luc's. Just because you alive doesn't mean I don't remember you dying. It doesn't mean I don't remember the feelings I had when I saw you lying there."

"It's okay Tru," Harrison whispered, not knowing what else to say as the strain of her calling finally seemed to be reaching its breaking point. "It's okay."

"I had to lie to you," she continued as though he hadn't spoken. "I just couldn't bear to add even more bad memories to the ones we already have by letting you relive it again through me. I couldn't bear it."

Harrison held Tru tight as her sobs finally lessened and she stepped back from him. She looked ruefully at his shirt, damp with her tears.

"Feeling better?" Harrison asked as she reached into her pocket for a tissue. Tru nodded in response.

"I'm just going to go clean up a bit," she said, walking to the door.

"I'll wait here," Harrison replied. "And Tru, I do understand why you did it."

"You know I'd do it again?" Tru asked quietly.

Harrison nodded and bit his lip to keep from arguing again. He didn't like the idea of her lying to him again but now he realised how much pressure Tru was under he was resolved to cut her a little slack.

Tru accepted his response and disappeared out the door.

Harrison waited a moment before returning into the office. As soon as he stepped through the door he realised that both Davis and Cassie had heard almost everything. Davis was not even pretending to continue with the translation and Cassie was visibly pale.

"Is Tru okay?" Davis asked. He started to rise from his seat as if to go check on her.

"She's just gone to clean up a bit," Harrison said, shaking his head slightly at Davis's gesture to follow after her. "I think it's really starting to get to her."

"It has been for a while," Davis agreed. "She takes too much on herself as it is. But nothing can take away the memories. It's part of the burden of the calling."

"If she didn't remember she couldn't help anyone," Harrison commented. "But I think that she thinks that aspect is more of a curse than anything else."

"We'll have to make sure we help her out more to relieve some of the stress," Davis suggested.

"Yeah," Harrison agreed.

Tru came through the door at that moment and Harrison stopped speaking.

"My ears are burning," Tru said with a smile that was still a shadow of its usual brightness.

"All good stuff," Harrison said as he moved aside to let Tru get past and get a good look at the progress on the translation.

"So it's a curse on the vase," Tru read. "Does it say how to break it?"

"I think so but I can only pick out the odd words here and there," Davis sighed. "It's not easy to translate something when you don't know the language. We've just been trying to match the symbols but it could take weeks to find them all, and even then we might not have the answer."

"Here's an idea," Harrison said. "Let's just smash the ugly thing."

"That might be what is causing people to die," Davis said with a shake of his head.

"I don't know about the others but it was intact on the last rewind," Tru said. "Let's save that as a last resort, okay?"

Harrison shrugged.

"Let's split into pairs and take a computer between two," Davis suggested. "Me and Tru on this and Harrison and Cassie on the other. Put the vase between us and work on one side each."

Harrison nodded in agreement and sat back at the computer. He glanced at Tru in concern but she was soon busy scrutinising the vase and urging him to do the same. There was no time to worry about her just yet.

* * *

For the next few hours the four of them kept working at the translation but seemed to be getting no further with figuring out the entire mess. They had managed to find the symbol for dark on the vase and had speculated for a while that it was night time or lack of daylight that might trigger something. Cassie's bathroom had no windows in it but they had no idea about the layout of the rooms the other victims were in.

"Has anyone noticed that it's now later than the times of death of all the victims?" Davis asked as he sat back and stretched.

Tru glanced at the clock on the wall. He was right. The times of death had passed by without their even noticing.

"Maybe it's over?" Cassie suggested as she rubbed her eyes slightly with the strain of staring at the vase and the screen for hours.

"It doesn't make sense," Tru said. "Why would it suddenly stop?"

"None of this makes sense," Harrison pointed out. "Maybe we just got a lucky break here?"

"I don't buy that," Davis replied with a shake of his head.

"Me neither," agreed Tru. "We're just missing something."

"My company?" a voice joked from the doorway.

Tru turned to glare at the intruder. Jack Harper stood leaning against the wall near the door. It was becoming an unnerving habit of his. For someone who knew his presence was unwelcome he had been dropping by on a regular basis.

"Get out," Tru demanded as she stood up.

"Nice vase," Jack commented as he walked further into the room. "May I?" he reached forward to pick it up as if to study it.

"What do you want Jack?" Tru asked, stepping back slightly so that she was further away from the smirking man.

"I want this day over with," Jack said as he replaced the vase and moved to the other side of the room. "I really don't like the multiple rewinds and this one is getting very tiresome. Especially since Davis isn't playing along now. Did you have a nice trip out of town? How's the family? Oh wait that wasn't today was it? Today you decided not to go visit your sick relative. Shame."

Tru caught Cassie's questioning look at Harrison and his silently mouthing _later_ in reply. It looked like Cassie hadn't been told about Jack. She was so busy taking in their reaction she didn't realise Davis had stood up behind her. Harrison however had noticed and she caught his quick shake of the head at Davis and turned to see that her co-worker and confidant was looking as furious as she had ever seen him.

"Your sick," Davis spat at Jack as he moved around Tru. "You heard Tru, get out."

"Such manners," Jack tutted, though he did take a step back towards the door. Tru and Davis matched him pace for pace in an effort to keep him from coming back into the room. "Can't I stop by and see my old co-workers and friends once in a while?"

"You were never a friend," Davis replied with another glare.

"Well not with you perhaps," Jack smirked. "But Harrison here was a friend, right?"

"Not the word I'd choose," Harrison said.

Jack shrugged and smiled towards Cassie. "I see you have another little recruit too. I don't believe we've been introduced."

Harrison stood up and manoeuvred himself in front of Cassie who was looking more confused than ever. "Stay away from all of us," he ordered.

"I see you're over Lindsay already," Jack smiled. "This one's much more your level. You work in a diner right?" He turned to Cassie with one of his most friendly smiles.

Tru opened her mouth to again demand that Jack leave. It was bad enough he was following her around the city. She hadn't realised he was following her brother as well. He was far more devious than she had thought. He knew enough about Davis and his family to send him on a wild goose chase out of town. He knew who her brother was dating and where his girlfriend worked. She didn't know where he was getting all his information but it had to stop and it had to stop now.

She didn't have time to speak though. While she had been trying to process all the implications, Harrison, who had a minute ago been silently cautioning Davis, had decided not to take his own advice and swung his fist at Jack with a force that knocked him off his feet.

"Harrison!" Tru cried out. She vaguely heard Cassie's voice echoing her own as her brother grabbed Jack and spun him around to take another shot at him. Despite the fact that Jack outweighed her brother by some pounds at the moment pure rage seemed to be driving him and he retained the upper hand.

His mistake was when he stopped and Jack recovered quickly enough to lever her brother off of him and pushed him across the room, straight towards the desk with the vase sitting innocently on it.

Time seemed to slow down as Tru, Davis and Cassie all rushed towards the vase that toppled to the floor and shattered before they could reach it.

As it hit the floor a black mist seemed to rise from the pieces and hover in the room. The still legible markings glowed golden on the pieces of pottery. Tru felt a chill down her spine as she looked at the strange phenomena.

"What is it?" Harrison asked from where he lay on the floor.

"I don't know," Tru replied. Davis shook his head in confusion. Even Jack looked surprised.

"The mist seemed to move with a life of its own and it moved first towards one of the group and then another. One by one it edged closer and closer. Cassie scooted back on her chair as it moved in her direction. Harrison stood up and moved towards her protectively. Of all of the people in the room Cassie was the only one who had previously been a victim. Tru watched as the mist moved back again and moved towards Jack. She half hoped it would take him next but then silently scolded herself for the uncharitable thought.

"I think it's confused," Davis said. "It can't seem to make its mind up who to go for."

"I vote Jack," Harrison said with another glare in his direction.

"Maybe it only gets activated when the person is alone," Tru speculated. "It'd explain why no one has seen anything and why we can sit here all this time with it and nothing happened."

"But I was on my own when I was bringing it here," Harrison pointed out.

"You were out in public with it," Tru argued. "You might have been on your own but you weren't alone."

"So what now?" Cassie asked as she watched the mist come back in her direction. "We can't all just stay here forever and wait for it to go away. What if it just goes towards someone on their own outside of this room?"

"How about we send Jack out the room and test that theory?" Harrison suggested again with an evil grin at the nervous looking Jack.

Tru rolled her eyes. As tempting as it was to use him as a guinea pig they really couldn't. She looked at her counterpart again and saw that he was as nervous as she had ever seen him.

"Death afraid is he?" Harrison smirked. "Death comes to everyone right?"

Jack glared back and seemed to rally himself.

Tru groaned slightly and rubbed the back of her neck which was starting to ache from staring up at the mist above them.

They had still not decided what to do when a few minutes later the mist seemed to split into five separate forms each smaller than the original. Each of the entities then drifted apart and moved slowly towards the five people in the room.

Tru gripped hold of Davis's arm and saw across the room that Cassie had done likewise with Harrison. Only Jack stood alone. His face was once again betraying his unease.

The mists moved closer and closer and Tru shivered as she felt a chill run down her spine.

Then suddenly the mist reached her and started to swirl around her. She vaguely noticed the others were in similar positions before she felt blackness descending and fell to floor unconscious.

* * *

Tru woke with her body aching all over. Her head was pounding with the mother of all headaches and she felt nauseous. She struggled to sit up and felt the room spinning around her. It was a minute before she could focus enough to see the others in the room lying prone on the floor.

She looked at Davis who was the nearest to her and moved cautiously towards him. She searched for a pulse and was relieved to find it steady and strong. He groaned slightly as he too started to wake.

"What happened?" he muttered as Tru helped him to sit up.

"I don't know," she replied before turning towards Harrison and Cassie who were starting to come around too.

"I feel like hell," Harrison groaned. "And not even a night out to remember for the trouble."

"Glad to see you're all right," Tru smiled.

"You're going grey," Harrison said as he pulled himself up.

"You've been sending me grey for years," Tru joked as she turned to see if Jack was all right. There was no sign on him there. She wondered briefly what had happened to him before realising that he had probably just woken first and left them on their own. It was typical behaviour for Jack who prided himself on not interfering with people's lives, unless of course it was for his own purposes.

"I meant literally," Harrison said. "Check it out." He reached out and tugged lightly at a lock of her long hair. Tru frowned as she looked down and saw that instead of the usual rich brown colour the lock of hair was indeed grey. She looked at Cassie who she could clearly see also now had a grey lock of hair amidst her raven tresses.

She looked at Harrison and although it was not as obvious as his hair was light in colouring she could make out a little grey there too.

Davis meanwhile had moved to a mirror and confirmed that he too was sporting some grey in his own hair.

"The victims each had white hair," Tru said in a distracted tone. "It must have been because it split to attack each of us. Instead of pure white hair and death, we each have a bit of grey and were knocked out."

"Do you think it's over?" Cassie asked with a glance towards the broken shards of pottery.

"I hope so," Tru replied. "But just to make sure I think we should make sure it can never be put together again."

She walked across the room and ground her heel into some of the pieces. Davis, Harrison and Cassie joined her and within a minute there was nothing but dust remaining of the vase. No markings to glow with an unnatural light and no sign of the black mist re-appearing. Tru fetched a brush from the cleaner's store cupboard down the hall and swept the dust into the trash can.

Once that was done they all sat back down and Davis turned to Tru. "So how was Europe?" he asked.

"Order some takeout and I'll tell you all about it, again," she replied with a tired smile.

Davis turned to the phone and ordered the food. When he had done Tru opened her mouth to speak but Davis interrupted before she could start.

"You don't have to take everything on your own shoulders anymore," he said quietly as he looked at her intensely.

"Davis is right," Harrison agreed. "You've got us to help you. And if you'd been on your own today you know what would have happened?"

Tru shivered again as she realised that without the others, even Jack being there she would probably have been the next victim of the vase's curse.

"I know that," Tru said quietly. "But it's not easy to put those you love in danger."

"Well I'm usually prone to trouble anyway," Harrison laughed. "So you've no excuse there."

"I'll help too," Cassie offered. "You've saved my life twice now. It's the least I can do to thank you."

"Thanks," Tru smiled at the dark haired girl.

"We know it's your burden," Davis said. "But just try to remember we're here for you."

"I will," Tru replied with a grateful smile. "So who wants to hear about Europe? 'Cos I've been back so long rewinding I'm starting to forget."

Everyone laughed along with Tru and she felt the pressure of her own personal curse lift slightly as she resolved to store this happier moment in her memories.

* * *

_Author Notes:_

_A few points which I thought I would note here._

_1. Jack's rewinds. I have no idea if he rewinds to when he last woke up or to the time that Tru woke up. For the purposes of my stories he rewinds to the time Tru woke up. _

_2. Phones on planes. I always assumed there was an emergency phone on planes and decided to use that for the story instead of having Tru at the airport in Europe which would mean looking up flight times...pure laziness on my part. Apologies if I am wrong about that fact. _

_3. The markings on the vase. Nice and vague and from a book I have about how to read Egyptian Hieroglyphs. I couldn't find an exact symbol for curse though, hence the vagueness._

_Well that is the end of this story. If you enjoyed it please considering checking out myuser profile for my other Tru Calling stories. There are six, to date, including this one. Three completedand three just starting out. _

_Thank you for reading this far and I hope you enjoyed the story._


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